Renewable energy charger

[tkelly-lord]

Hi all,

I am about to embark on my own electronics adventure however am very new to this so wondered if some of you lovely people could give me any pointers.

I am designing a renewable energy charger that can charge your mobile phone, ipod etc when away from the grid. Probably will be hand held although as it is for the camping market could be intergrated into another product.

What do you think is the best (most energy efficient, cost efficient etc) source of energy (wind, solar, human powered etc)?

I am very new to this so any other hints and tips would be fantastic for making a circuit such as this.

Thanks!

Tom

 

[rfs100]

well, everything that you have mentioned IS valuable in its own way, but also have their own set of challenges.
SOLAR-only works when its sunny
Wind, only works when its windy
Human, only works if its under 23, or in good shape.
The hard part is to make any of these 3 ways of generating into a small, efficient, light weight package...no small feat.

 

[cobra1]

solar and kinetic seem the best options, there is already a device that charges your phone when you walk, it uses a piezo transducer, as the piezo is compressed and relaxed it generates small amounts of electricity to charge phones etc, runners use these on there ipods etc

i have also seen backpacks with solar panels built in.

i belive it would be a combination that will win the day

 

[Mikebits]

Take a look at energy harvesting IC's by Linear Tech.
Linear Technology - Energy Harvesting

 

[lilimike]

well, everything that you have mentioned IS valuable in its own way, but also have their own set of challenges.
SOLAR-only works when its sunny
Wind, only works when its windy
Human, only works if its under 23, or in good shape.
The hard part is to make any of these 3 ways of generating into a small, efficient, light weight package...no small feat.

RFS,
You forgot the wife...
She only works when she feels like it!

Mike

 

[rfs100]

RFS,
You forgot the wife...
She only works when she feels like it!

Mike

Ill wholeheartedly agree...as long as shes not looking.

 

[tkelly-lord]

Linear tech looks very interesting and i'm sure will prove very useful at a later date however looks very complex!

Some of their ways of harnessing energy though are very interesting; vibration (piezo), galvanic (moisture), thermal, photovoltaic (light). They key to my sucess i believe will be in in harnessing the energgy in an innovative way that is as useful as current phone chargers on the market. Even it is a new kinetic energy charger.

Thanks for feedback, would love to hear more thoughts on this!

=)

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Thanks for feedback, would love to hear more thoughts on this!

Really it's down to where you're getting the energy from, I've got a windup torch that will also charge a phone, and comes complete with a range of adaptors for different phones.

I'm sceptical that you can come up with a more efficient method?. The piezo systems seem to provide very little energy, it's difficult to collect kinetic energy.